1541 Tasting Notes
Strong and comforting sweet and grainy aroma with a prominent cocoa note. First steep is sweet, grainy and nourishing. Second and third move into earthy territory with dominant tobacco and rye tastes as tannins and complementary bitterness present. A great breakfast tea.
It’s been years since I’ve had a straight up Yunnan gold tea. Thank you Whispering Pines for including this as a free sample with my order :)
Flavors: Beer, Burlap, Cactus, Cantaloupe, Cocoa, Earthy, Eggplant, Ginger, Grain, Leather, Malt, Malty, Orange Zest, Pine, Roasted Barley, Rye, Savory, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wheat, White Grapes, Wood
Preparation
Daylon, your sample is threading like silk into this beautiful summer morning. Somebody put their full attention and energy into this tea.
This Michigan-grown leaf gives me great hope that one day I can grow and process tea here in California that, like this oolong, rivals the depth, complexity and longevity of fine eastern teas.
Thank you, Daylon. I can’t express enough gratitude <3
Flavors: Apricot, Butter, Camphor, Cedar, Clean, Crisp, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Incense, Jam, Juicy, Oily, Orchid, Peach, Peony, Sandalwood, Spicy, Strawberry, Sugar, Viscous
Preparation
This past week, I had 4 different 2020 Old Ways Tea Rou Gui over 4 days and this was by far the standout!
My notes are an absolute mess probably because I was more with the tea than concerned about writing legibly.
Complex sweet aromatics, soft in the mouth, blooming vaporous aftertaste. Cooling mineral sweetness.
Warming and drying. Slowed breathing.
Refined, ethereal, silky.
Malty suede.
Flavors: Cacao, Cannabis, Caramel, Charcoal, Cinnamon, Cream, Dark Bittersweet, Drying, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Osmanthus, Peach, Peppermint, Roasted Barley, Silky, Soft, Wet Wood, Wood
Preparation
2020 harvest
I don’t remember much about this. A lighter, fruitier Rou Gui.
Roswell Strange’s note has more to offer than my impressions which have slipped into oblivion.
Flavors: Cacao, Charcoal, Drying, Fruit Tree Flowers, Marzipan, Mineral, Nuts, Oak, Peach, Pear, White Grapes
Preparation
Spring 2020 harvest.
Dark, damp earthy aroma mixed with a darker milk chocolate.
Malty and juicy, bitter flowers like lavender. Catches in the throat on the way down and leaves a sweet mineral finish. Salivary glands tingle – salty. Peach and orchid bloom from the throat while a vaguely minty and fruity wild blueberry persists in the mouth. Floral bittersweet and woody bite is ubiquitous from 4th steep on.
It was nice but… but what? Maybe the throat catch turned me off a little? Am I sad that the spice notes of the rinsed leaf don’t come through in taste?
Flavors: Biting, Bittersweet, Blueberry, Charcoal, Cinnamon, Coffee, Compost, Dark Chocolate, Fennel, Forest Floor, Juicy, Lavender, Malt, Malty, Milk Chocolate, Mineral, Mint, Orchid, Peach, Salty, Spices, Stonefruit, Woody
Preparation
April 2022 harvest
Chicken soup, sweet chestnuts and grassy. Viscous, round, bright and juicy. Good aroma, taste and texture. Not a delicate tea — it can handle 200F water just fine, creating a slightly different taste profile compared to the recommended 185F. More of a refreshing, brisk character prepared in a porcelain cup with steeper basket compared to a glass gaiwan.
This tea is over a year old and it is starting to get that dry grassy taste of aging Chinese greens but the overall flavor profile seems like a mix between regular green dragonwell and a yellow tea.
Interesting tea for sure and good but it never fully commanded my attention and appreciation. If this tea appears in Song Tea’s fresh harvest catalog next year, I might buy another bag to see how it tastes at peak freshness.
Flavors: Anise, Bright, Brisk, Chestnut, Chicken Soup, Chrysanthemum, Dry Grass, Earthy, Ginseng, Grassy, Juicy, Nutty, Roasted Nuts, Round, Savory, Sweet, Toasty, Viscous
Preparation
Spring 2022 harvest
Soft and nectary sweet gives way to dry feeling and tartaftertaste. Subtle and complex character. Main vibe is tropical fruity-nectar, floral like Angel’s Trumpet and slightly vegetal cucumber mixed with spicy-dry pastoral associations — so many nuances once could pick the tastes apart as a hundred different variations. This is a really nice silver needle. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t contain caffeine or contains very little though I’m not positive.
I most enjoy going very light on leaf in a glass gaiwan. A good tea to mix with blue lotus flower in a large glass pot.
Flavors: Bark, Cream, Cucumber, Drying, Eucalyptus, Floral, Flowers, Fur, Honeydew, Hot Hay, Leather, Lemon, Lychee, Marshmallow, Mushrooms, Musk, Nectar, Nuts, Oats, Pear, Soft, Spicy, Sugarcane, Sweet, Tart, Tropical, Vanilla
Preparation
Random teabag pulled from my aunt’s stash.
Groggy first cup of the day earlier this week so I don’t remember much. It was good. Not great, but solid. Lemon myrtle is my favorite ‘lemony herb’ compared to lemon balm and lemongrass. It doesn’t have whatever lemongrass does that can sometimes downright turn me off. This tastes of a high, green, lemony note and is ginger spicy and echinacea-y (if you know, you know). Full body from the echinacea and sweet licorice root but ultimately gulpable.
Flavors: Citrusy, Ginger, Green, Lemongrass, Licorice Root, Roots, Spicy, Sweet
Preparation
2021 harvest so 2 years rested.
Sharing a pot on an overcast, cold and breezy morning. Like a glass of heathery, smokey scotch for breakfast. It takes me places but also grounds me right here. This is an expertly smoked tea made with high quality leaf.
Flavors: Apple, Campfire, Cedar, Chamomile, Floral, Leather, Orchid, Peat, Pine, Scotch, Smoked, Wet Rocks
Preparation
2020 harvest freshly opened is smooth but for someone who likes to be shown strength in one or more facets, it is ultimately nothing memorable. I was hoping for more of a caffeinated yancha before heading into a mandatory work meeting tonight that starts in 12 minutes…
Flavors: Charcoal, Cream, Floral, Honeysuckle, Mineral, Peach, Plum, Roasted, Smooth, Spices, Sweet, Tangy, Wet Wood